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THE FINAL BELL TOLLS FOR VILLANUEVA By Eddie Alinea PhilBoxing.com Sun, 18 May 2014  Relatives, friends, fellow athletes and Olympians will have the last chance to view the remains of Olympic silver medalist Anthony Villanueva today at the Loyola Memorial Park chapel along Sucat Road in Paranaque City where his body has been lying in state since his death last Tuesday. Villanueva?s remains will be laid to rest at 3 p.m. today following cremation set at 1 o?clock, according to eldest son Avery. A Requiem Mass will be held at 11 a.m. The Philippine Sports Commission, which donated P50,000 (P30,000 of which as the agency?s usual dole out for burial) to the family was arranging a necrological service to be held last night or during today?s mass. Villanueva, who brought home the country?s first of only two silver medals in 1964 edition of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, died in his sleep Tuesday at his rented apartment in Cabuyao in Calamba City. He was 69. The clean-cut, school boy-looking Villanueva was only 19 and a high school student at Far Eastern University when he lost to USSR?S Stanislav Stephaskin in their featherweight gold medal bout many inside the majestic Korakuen Ice Palace, except three of the five judges, believed he won. ?Boy,? to relatives and the local amateur boxing circle, was a prot?g? of his father Jose ?Cely? Villanueva, himself an Olympic bronze medal winner 32 years prior in 1932 in Los Angeles, who mentored and trained him since he was strong enough to don the heavy boxing gloves, with the dream of someday the son will win the Philippines? first gold medal or at least improve on the father?s third place finish. Boy succeeded by hacking out four straight victories against Giovanni Girgenti of Italy, 3-2, in the opening round of boxing competitions; Taher Ben Hassen of Tunisia, 4-1, in the second round; Piotr Gutman of Poland, RCS in 2:41 of the first round to assure him of the bronze medal; and American Charlie Brown, 4-1, for the silver medal and the right to battle Sephaskin for the gold. Bloody from the opening bell on due to an eyebrow cut suffered against Hassen that recurred, Villanueva appeared the stronger between the gold medal protagonists, connecting with solid blows throughout the three-round finale. To Stephaskin?s credit though, the Russian never slowed down even as he ended the contest with busted nose that perhaps led Italian judge to see the fight in his favor, 60-58; the Lebanese, 60-59; and the Tunisian, 60-58. The Egyptian and the German had Villanueva the winner in identical 59-58 hairline verdicts. That the Philippines could have been robbed of what could have been its first Olympic Games gold medal in then 40 years of participation in the quadrennial conclave known as the ?Greatest Sports Show On Earth,? was stressed by Ring Magazine founder Nat Fletcher, New York Herald Tribune sportswriter Jesse Abramson, London Daily News? Peter Wilson and sportswriting legend Red Smith in their reports. Boy must have failed returning home with only the silver medal, but his father Cely, who was Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde?s trainer when his son delivered, was so proud nevertheless as he narrated over and over again the younger Villanueva?s exploit to sports scribes and to anyone who cared to listen while still alive. Another boxer, Mansueto ?Onyok? Velasco won the Philippines? only other silver medal in 1996 in Atlanta, raising the country?s official medal harvest to nine since sprinter David Nepomuceno first saw action in the once every-four-year meet among the world?s finest athletes. Swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso, up to the present time, is the winningest among them with a pair of silver medals in the 200-meter breaststroke in 1928 in Paris and 1932 in Los Angeles, the same year high jumper Simeon Toribio and Cely won theirs. Miguel White, likewise, took home a bronze in the 400-metrer hurdle in 1936 in Berlin, and so did boxers Leopoldo Serrantes in 1988 in Seoul and Roel Velasco, Onyok?s elder brother in Barcelona in 1992. The Philippines, actually, has a gold medal in her collection, albeit unofficially, when Ariane Cerdena topped the women?s singles event in demonstration event bowling , also in Seoul. Gymnast-turned taekwondo jin Bea Lucero and teammate Stephen Fernandez took a bronze medal each in exhibition sport taekwondo in 1992. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.  |
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